April 2010

April 23, 2010

Dez Bryant met the local press for the first time since being drafted by the Cowboys and had some interesting things to say.

-- When asked his biggest strengths and weaknesses,Bryant said: “My biggest strength is the passion for the game. I love playing football,” Bryant said. “And my weakneses . . . I -- you know -- I really don’t know.”

Jerry Jones loved that one.

-- Bryant said he has a favorite way of scoring touchdowns.

“I love returning punts,” he said. “To be honest, punt return TDs are more exciting than receiving a touchdown pass.”

Why?

“Just a feeling,” he said. “Receiving the punt, seeing that open space and seeing the green. It’s just a great feeling.”

-- And did being suspended by the NCAA for withholding information about a meeting with former Cowboy Deion Sanders cost him money?

“I’ve put all that in the past,” Bryant said. “I flipped over a new chapter in life. I’m a Dallas Cowboy now and I’m looking ahead.”

The last answer was so interesting because Bryant had just had a long meeting with Jerry Jones, who has said on Thursday that he was going to tell Bryant he had a chance to start all over with the Cowboys.

It didn't take long before the dominoes began to fall following the Cowboys decision to draft receiver Dez Bryant with the 24th overall pick in Thursday's NFL Draft.

Receiver Patrick Crayton has been given permission to seek a trade, according to his agent Fred Lyles.

"Crayton is not upset," Lyles said. "He is looking forward to opportunities that await for him in the future whether its in Dallas or somewhere else."

Bryant is expected to be one of the team's top three receivers and also return kicks and punts, which makes Crayton's future unclear with the team.

Crayton has been the team's third receiver and primary punt returner. He is scheduled to make $2 million next season. That might be a little rich for a fourth receiver who does not return or cover kicks.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declined to comment but vice president Stephen Jones acknowledged several veterans could be in play for trades as the team moves forward on the final two days of the draft.

Other veterans who might be available for trades include defensive end Marcus Spears, receiver Sam Hurd and linebacker Bobby Carpenter.

Stephen Jones said just cause the Cowboys might be entertaining offers for players doesn't mean they won't be back and couldn't have long futures with the team.

Bryant was taken with the 24th pick of the NFL Draft on Thursday after he slid in the draft because of off-the-field concerns.

According to league sources, the irregular heartbeat is another reason several teams around the league dropped him on their draft board.

At least one team failed him at the combine, saying he needs a defibulator, which would end his career.

Jones said Bryant has been checked out by the Cowboys doctors and the team has no concerns.

“No concerns and our doctors, which I know are as good as any there are, have zero concern of him having a full life, a full career over an elongated curve,” Jones said. “We gave it no medical consequence. Period.”

Dez Bryant will follow in the footsteps of two of the greatest wide receivers in Cowboys history by wearing jersey No. 88. It's the number that was made famous by Drew Pearson and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.

That the Cowboys gave him 88 tells you a lot of what they think about Dez Bryant, who is a top five talent who just happened to fall to No. 24 in the draft because of character concerns.

He is 6-foot-3 and can run like the wind. The Cowboys did their homework on his character and believe they just added a game-changing talent to their offense.

Remember there are no legal issues. No drug or alcohol issues with Bryant. His biggest crime so to speak is being late, which can be attributed to immaturity.

Here are quotes from Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips on their pick of Dez Bryant and how everything went down.

How did the deal go down?

Jerry Jones: We were keeping a close eye one who was ahead of us, keeping a close eye on the number of picks ahead of us. We knew he was high on a lot of draft boards. He was high on ours of course. We had anticipated, we had rehearsed, gone over our strategy, gone over when and what and how much we would offer at various junctures coming down the board. This is something along the old adage of when the coach tells you to see the ball before it’s hit; make the play on it before it’s hit. We saw it coming so we didn’t have to hesitate or be apprehensive about it. We felt pretty strongly that we should go on in there and get him when we did. It was something we were able to execute pretty good.

Was this your target all along?

Jerry Jones: We had three players that we thought were of exceptional talent. He was certainly one of those three and as we moved down, the other two were taken. We had gone through all the scenarios of our numbers, numbers of receivers, where we are with our numbers of receivers, what he adds to the mix. Of course he’s an outstanding punt returner and we had that very much in the mix. When you say ‘a player you wanted all along’ I really don’t want to be there as much as I would tell you it was pretty ambitious to think that for the price we paid at the 27th pick we could end up with Dez Bryant. It’s pretty ambitious to think that’s how we planned it all along. We’d hoped that it would go pretty good. My wife was out of town and she said, ‘While I’m watching it, tell me which players need to have been picked there for me to jump up and holler “How ‘bout them Cowboys.’” He was certainly one of the two or three that we mentioned.

You had mentioned that the first round draft pick starts. I’m assuming that’s with Dez.

Wade Phillips: We discussed all this going into the draft. Certainly, each position and what our need was. Like Jerry said we really had three guys that were quality football players. At the right circumstances we could get one of those guys. We were able to get this one. This kid is a returner also, and he’s an outstanding returner. He played as a sophomore and had 87 catches, 19 touchdowns. He had like four touchdowns as a sophomore. This last year, he played in only three games and had four touchdowns and returned another one. He’s scored at least a touchdown every game he’s played in the last however many games that is, 16. We thought this guy could make a difference. He’s a playmaker.

How does he impact Roy Williams’ role on the team, or does it?

Jerry Jones: I think it’s quite a group of receivers.

Wade Phillips: That’s our job to get him the football. I do think he’ll come in and return pretty quickly. sometimes it takes young receivers, we’ve seen it throughout time, it takes young receivers a little bit to get going so to speak and get used to pro football and get their feet wet. We’ve seen a lot of them come in and be returners and made an impact real quick. There’s a chance he’ll do that.

It doesn’t affect your decision to move Roy?

Jerry Jones: No, it does not. We won’t be moving Roy. The other thing I’ll say is that he was outstanding when we visited here. We know him well, and we’ve spent, as we should, we spent a lot of time evaluating him and understanding his circumstances. His proximity to us here really enhanced our ability to evaluate him and look at all the nuisances involved. He came in and was outstanding with all our coaches here and was really impressive. We hoped that he is through some of what Wade alluded to – some of those early things you have to do to develop a receiver. He’s absolutely right. It can sometimes take longer than a season to get one ready to play. We drafted him with the idea of him being on the field immediately, certainly as a punt returner, but earlier there with our offense.

Did your feelings earlier of passing on Randy Moss affect you at all in not letting a receiver of this quality pass you by again?

Jerry Jones: It did not. There’s been more written there than I’ve said about that. That’s not to back away from anything that’s been written. Dez Bryant stands on his own. His production stands on its own. His abilities, some of his unique abilities – the run after catch – all of those things stand on their own. I didn’t need the encouragement of the revisit of the Randy Moss decision or anything I regretted there to get us to this point with Dez Bryant.

Did you or Ray Sherman or anyone on your staff call Roy Williams and tell him you’re taking a receiver or does it affect your view of him?

Wade Phillips: No. I talked to the team this week about the guys we were counting on were the guys on our team. The players are all working out, I got them all together and told them the draft comes up every year, there’s always competition, but I’m counting on you guys. I’m counting on you guys to make a difference on this football team. If someone comes in to compete, that’s part of the game. Don’t get your feelings hurt no matter who we take. I even kidded with Romo and told him if we take a quarterback, you have to smile and go on. That’s true if there would’ve been a quarterback there with that value. I explained that to the team, and I think they understood that. All of them were there.

Does Roy have to earn his time on the field this spring and summer?

Wade Phillips: He’s out here every day throwing. That’s exactly what I told them. We are counting on those guys to come through for us.

On where Bryant stands as far as his maturity goes:

Jerry Jones: I knew him well enough to, without being trite here and not let words show that, but we wouldn’t have drafted him if we hadn’t felt good that he could be now and a real significant player for the Cowboys. And I do mean the word significant because he does have that potential. I think you weigh all of that. We had him as one of the top graded players that we’ve got, and everything figured into the grades, and he was one of the top players. I know firsthand he’s one of the top players around the league with everything figured into the grade too, but we thought maybe the circumstances may give us a shot.

On how much misinformation was out there about Bryant?

Jerry Jones: What I’d like to do – and you’ve got the right word – but it really is an evaluation. Like you said, there’s really some good information there. Really good input from where he’s lived and where he’s gone to school. There’s great information out here. That doesn’t mean every bit of it was A-plus on a measurement information, but there was real good information and it got very consistent. The more people we talked to, the more people he’d been around, it really came in there with the consistency that we feel like we know him. Maybe sometimes you don’t feel compelled to do and go to those lengths to delve into that, but we did and we wanted to. The reason all along is that we thought he could potentially bring that kind of dimension to our team, and to our offense and to our return game – punt return – but certainly to the team itself. I’m convinced that relative to the other players on the board from a talent standpoint, from the ability that given, being on the field and given competing that he has a chance to be a game changer.

Does this move take the pressure off of Roy Williams?

Jerry Jones: I think that it should show that we really want to, when given the opportunity, we want to create as much offense as we can, and this is the time. We’ve got an outstanding quarterback in our mind. We’ve got outstanding running backs. We’ve got a chance to have some depth at tight end. We’ve got a plan on our offensive line that is a good one, I think, that can be satisfactory to us if we didn’t draft the outstanding offensive lineman. If we didn’t do that, we’ve got a plan there that makes it comfortable for us to go and make this pick at receiver. We’ve certainly not forgotten about the needs at offensive line. When I say needs, where we don’t have the number of players. So all of that was mixed in with this thing. I want to emphasize the amount of time that we spent on this very issue with our numbers with Miles (Austin), with Roy (Williams), with (Kevin) Ogletree, with (Patrick) Crayton, with (Sam) Hurd, with our young players that are sitting there. That combination of things, with all of that considered, he was a big positive for our offense.

What were the risks in your mind with the pick after doing all of your homework:

Jerry Jones: I think that probably we mitigated a lot of the risk in the pick to some degree by getting to get him where we got him as opposed to where we had him graded. We felt all along that you can mitigate that risk the lower you go in the first round. That’s one thing. Secondly, I think that the issues we won’t to address and he should address are not the kinds of issues that really cause me to jump back: substance, work ethic, his ability “get it” – in terms of his mental playing ability. All of those things were not in any way… all of those things were pluses. It is documented that there certainly are some things that are there that if not would cause him to be… argue ably we have had people say that he is the best player in the draft, say that, we didn’t have him rated as the best player in the draft, but I’m saying with that kind of talent there. That gives us - the Cowboys – me; we all have a great incentive and a huge reason to really make this work. And I think we should have that for all 53 on our roster, but we have a big incentive to make this work. And what this can bring to our offense is worth, however what maintenance we have here. The other thing, I really do believe and I really do believe in this philosophy, but I believe that he should look at tonight as history and the past and beginning in the morning when he gets here he should absolutely say this is a new life for me, a new slate, I am in the NFL, I’m Dallas Cowboys, I have a lot of God given ability and really approach it from that stand point and not spend a lot of his energy one way or the other thinking about the past. And I think he has a chance to do that.

Would it be correct to say that somebody (other WR) is going to lose playing time:

Wade Phillips: Well we will see how that plays out. Well you can play four wide receivers, you don’t have to play three and that is my job, that’s what I have to do, to get the ball to the best players. And that is what we are going to try to do.”

Jones: “And I am going to add something to that. People get nicked up. So you may have five receivers but you may have two of them or one of them that may not be at their top speed that week or those weeks and all of that depth there, especially depth there with that kind of talent. If you want to put together a team that is a huge assest.”

Phillips: “If you remember there Miles was hurt until the fourth game so you need good players at any position, but at wide receiver it was very important for us.

Taking a wide receiver unlikely – was that smoke screen:

Jerry Jones: No not really, it was unlikely. With our evaluation and his talent level, you had to have things going for you to get him down right at the 27 so we could up to the 24. We didn’t have the fire power, we didn’t have the rational to get up there in the top 10 where his grades are.

Was he in the top five:

Jerry Jones: I am not going to go there, but I’ll go as far to tell you the top 10.

Was that why you guys were so excited when he started dropping – we saw you on the war cam?

Jerry Jones: I don’t know how much of that you were seeing but someone else said we noticed there about five and six away, we noticed that that thing got to twitching, getting nervous and everybody started getting fidgety, talking in tongues and all that. So the whole thing started heating up when we saw striking distance. What’s striking distance? Striking is when you can give a three and get back a four and have it happen for you. So yes, it started getting nervous then. And it was again probably some wasted energy if you started getting nervous at six – had a lot to go there.

Were you nervous when Denver came up two spots before you?

Jerry Jones: There were a couple teams and we made the trade to try to avoid a couple of teams.

Were you surprised you didn’t have to give up more?

Jerry Jones: No, not really. That was a reasonable thing and a reasonable consideration. It fit us. Our issue was on moving up at all, we just couldn’t even though we saw at least three players there that we were real serious difference makers for us now - much less in the future. We didn’t want to give that two up and for a long time it took that two. And for a long time the two didn’t get it. So we had pushed back and were reluctant to go there. When we started getting over into a three, kick back a four, those kind of points, then that’s when the twitching starts.

Would say a misevaluation by other teams caused him to fall?

Jerry Jones: No I would tell you that a combination of his story, of him not playing his senior year. I think those impacted where he played in the draft, and I may sound trite, but not naïve, because I know it impacted where he was taken because he is a better player than that.

Talk about the consistent things you found out about him:

Jerry Jones: Good person, good person, conscientious; those kinds of things. Really in close people that have a lot of credibility but arms length enough to have some credibility. As I mentioned earlier, so much of that in depth evaluation that wasn’t there that made a difference to me. Everybody has a lot of work to do and his starts tomorrow, all of ours starts tomorrow. The price is a big one here.

Concerns of punctuality:

Jerry Jones: Yes, the concerns are we can’t start our meetings over around here for him. Those ball games start at a certain time, kidding.

April 22, 2010

"I really didn't know, but when I saw New England give up that pick tothe Cowboys I just got super excited. I was just saying that, 'TheCowboys have to pick me, they have to pick me.' And I was excited. Whenthey actually picked me, I didn't know what to do. I was justspeechless."

On if this is the team (Dallas) he wanted to go to:

"Yes sir. I'm a big fan. I'm a real Dallas Cowboy now."

On how if he was disappointed that he slid down in the first round:

"No sir. I'm not disappointed at all. My thing is that I was a top-five,top-10 talent. Ok. Well, I wasn't going to listen to all that. When Ifell to the Cowboys, that's the best thing that ever happened to me. I'mso happy I got picked and it doesn't matter where I got picked. I'mexcited and I'm ready to go to work."

On if he got a call from the Cowboys before he saw the pick on T.V.:

"I got a call before. Whenever I saw New England give up their pick tothe Cowboys, I was like, 'I know the Cowboys have to take me.' I was soexcited to hear Jerry Jones' voice."

On what Jerry Jones told him:

"He was like, 'Are you ready to be a Cowboy?' And I was like, 'Yessir.""

On how his visit at the Cowboys facility went before the draft:

"Our visit was great. I felt like the coaches and I all got along realwell. I felt like the relationship that me and Jerry had when I wasthere was great. I guess they believed in me, they chose me and it's ablessing."

On what he would say to people who question the pick and say the Cowboysare taking on a troubled player:

"I just feel like those are the people that don't know Dez Bryant. Thepeople that do know Dez Bryant know that I'm a great person. I don't getinto trouble. I've never committed a crime. I've never had trouble withthe law. I don't do drugs. For me I feel like I'm a good person."

On if he'll have a relationship with Deion Sanders when he gets intotown:

"Yes sir. I will always (have a relationship with him). The guy's agreat person. He sends me spiritual text messages every morning. Hisintentions weren't to hurt me. He's a great person and he's going toforever stay in my life, and I'm enjoying every moment of it."

On what Deion Sanders has told him about the Cowboys:

"Deion (Sanders) hasn't told me anything about the Cowboys."

On if he met any Cowboys players during his visit with the Cowboys:

"I met (Tony) Romo and Roy Williams. We didn't say too much to eachother. We introduced each other, and that was about it, but that wasabout it. But it was great."

On if the team talked to him about playing kick returner or puntreturner when he was here on a visit:

"Yes sir, they did. They talked to me about it."

On if he's excited about the possibilities of returning punts and/orkicks for the team:

"I'm very excited to do that. That's one of the things I love to do."

On what he's capable of doing during his rookie year:

"I really don't know because I haven't played yet. But I know that I'mgoing to give them my all. I'm going to go out there and give iteverything I've got. And hopefully I'll come out successful."

On if he thought this would be possible being a first round pick of theCowboys considering how his last collegiate year went:

"No sir. I really didn't think it was possible, but I was wishing that Icould be a Cowboy and now that I am actually a Cowboy, it's just unreal.It's just an unreal feeling right now."

On how much of an impact he expects to make in his rookie year:

"I'm going to do everything that I'm supposed to do. If I do everythingI'm supposed to do then I have no choice but to be a successful rookiehelping the Cowboys win the Super Bowl."

On if Jerry Jones talked to him about his plans in the offense:

"No sir. We didn't talk about that. We haven't talked about that yet."

On if he thinks he can start as a rookie:

"I can't say. I just have to get to training camp and we'll see."

On if he followed Miles Austin's season last year and if he's excited toteam with him:

"Yes sir. Miles (Austin) is a phenomenal player. All the wide receiversof the Cowboys are phenomenal. I did enjoy watching (Austin). It'sexciting and I'm excited that I can be their teammate. It's just a greatfeeling."

On if he followed Roy Williams' career growing up in Lufkin:

"Yes sir. I remember him back at the University of Texas. He was a greatplayer and very talented."

On how frustrating it's been for him and family having to hear thenegative comments about him:

"To be honest, it got frustrating. The things that happened in the past,they happened in the past. We're trying to fix what's going on now. Myfamily and I have been doing great - we're doing fine - and people don'ttalk about that. They don't look at that. They just look at mybackground. They didn't look at what's going on now."

On how much he got to know Cowboys receivers coach Ray Sherman duringhis visit:

"It was great. I felt a great connection between us. I'm happy now thatI'm with the Cowboys and he's able to coach me. It's just going to begreat. Like I said, it's just unbelievable right now."

On if he's addressed the concern that he's not good with being on time:

"It's no concern. I felt like all those things happened my freshmanyear, and I looked up to the older guys (at Oklahoma State) and Imatured from them and I matured from my coaches. My sophomore year andmy junior year, I felt like those years went well. And from there,things were just great. It was just some things about me that weren'ttrue. Things about me being late all the time. Me being late to games,which is impossible. Things like that."

There was a lot of talk about the Cowboys trying to trade up to take Texas safety Earl Thomas. And they certainly did have conversations with the Dolphins earlier in the day about the No. 12 pick in the draft.

But when it came time to make a deal during the draft, the Cowboys did nothing. There were two trades made at picks 12 and 13. The Dolphins traded with the Chargers. The two swapped picks in the first round and the Dolphins also got picks in the second and fourth round. The Chargers picked running back Ryan Matthews.

Then the Broncos swapped picks in the first round with the Eagles, who also gave up two third-round picks. The Eagles picked defensive end Brandon Graham.

Thomas, however, went 14th to the Seahawks.

While the Cowboys liked Thomas a lot, they apparently didn't like him enough to give up their second- and third-round picks, which is what it would have taken to move up to get him.

If the Cowboys stand pat at 27 and players like receiver Dez Bryant, safety Earl Thomas and guards Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Iupati are gone, the Cowboys will give a lot of consideration to Penn State defensive end Jared Odrick.

At least that's the word from a team insider. It's not a huge need but he is a player the Cowboys like. That doesn't mean he will be the pick because they also like cornerback Devin McCourty, who could also be there. It will be an interesting decision.

Nose tackle Jay Ratliff is giving away two tickets to any Cowboys game in 2010 except for Thanksgiving Day to any fan who can correctly guess the team's first round pick. Email your guess to fans@jayrat.com asap. He wants the picks by 7:30 pm. central standard time.